Aug 31, 2006 07:36 PM
2300 Views
On a recent trip to India I flew on Air Deccan. Usually I use only IA or Jet, but my relatives in India talked to me about Air Deccan low price offers (they themselves have no experience flying on Air Deccan). So booked round trip air tickets for four of us including 2 children. The flights were reasonably on time.
There is absolutely no service on the ground during check-n or boarding the flight. Like, there is no pre-boarding for people with children or for people with disabilities or for people who need special assistance. They are very strict about the baggage limits. Each person is allowed only one bag with max of 15kg. For foreign travellers like me, this is very low and I ended up paying half the amount of what I saved in ticket prices as excess baggage cost. When the boarding is announced, there is a mad rush of people swarming to the seats (like you see in the bus station).
There is absolutely no service inside the cabin - the attendents just stood around talking, no welcome, no help in finding seat, no attempt to help with hand baggage for elderly. Food is for purchase at outrageous prices. They don't have any milk on board for children even for purchase. They don't take credit card for in cabin purchases. They don't even have special seat belts for children. Oh the list is endless...
But the thing you have to be most careful about is checked baggage. My bags were expensive ones, we had checked in three bags with a total weight of 67 kgs. Two bags came out damaged. In one, the closing zipper was ripped open with the locks in tact and the entire top layer of items inside the bags were mising. The missing items were expensive childrens toys (total cost of replacement around 500 USD). The other bag was crushed, and the side walls were ripped. I filed a complaint about this in mid-July and then said they will compensate. Despite repeated phone calls and emails, I have not even been able even reach anybody who knows what is going on.
Please don't think mine was an isolate instance, in our onward filght, two other folks had their bags missing. One elderly Irish gentleman was talking the onward BA flight to London the same day and do you imagine that Air Deccan will forward his luggage to London when they find it? Another party had one out of their two checked in baggage missing.
In the end, I paid lot more on the baggage repair than I saved on the air ticket
So please be careful and don't get carried away by the cheap ticket gimmick. If you care about on time arrival/departure and care about your belongings and your loved ones, please look at alternative airlines first. It is cheap, and you will get what you deserve...
I made lots of other trips while in India - I did not use Air Deccan for any of them.
Thanks
R
